Hi,Nowday in the streets many many performers and let me say " cheap performers" do the old pole suspension ,And a looooot of person now know how it work....simply because the trick is not well hided from those"cheap" street performers most of the time are not magicians,Ob internet evrywhere you can see the explanation if this old trick,SoMy question is:Having a big similarity whit this old style pole suspension "still the Steinmeyer's pole levi" a good idea for a stage magic show? Basically any spectator can unserstand that one it'a motorized and the one from the cheap guy in the street use a not motorized version.What is your idea?ThanksFabrice

I would say the pole levitation (in fact a suspension) is a trick never appealed me since I thoght the method was obvious. Then in a gala at a magic convention I saw a poorly constructed version that not only "flashed" the method. It show it completley. When street performes (in Mexico acting as living statues, as you said, not working as magicians) used and abused the trick I had lost any interest in the feature....... and then .... I saw Kalin & Jinger perform itFor the first time the trick appealed me and I enjoyed watching it. I had the opportunity to talk with them and express my recognition to their presentation. If I remember correctly, they use a Steinmeyer/Gaughan version.I watched the show with my assitant. She said me "It was incredible, when Jinger starts to float, and then she release a pole, then release the second pole ... wow" She misremembered the facts. As a conclussion: Properly built and properly performed, it continues amazing people.

Yes, theirs is simply the best. I have seen it many times, including several times in their Reno "Magic Underground" theater where I was mere feet away.

Andres Reynoso wrote:If I remember correctly, they use a Steinmeyer/Gaughan version.

Yes, theirs was built by John Gaughan and, of course, designed by Jim Steinmeyer.

Andres Reynoso wrote:I watched the show with my assitant. She said me "It was incredible, when Jinger starts to float, and then she release a pole, then release the second pole ... wow" She misremembered the facts.

No, she is not misremembering the facts: Jinger in fact takes her hand off the second pole, though she never moves it away and always keeps it in front of it.

Dustin Stinett wrote:No, she is not misremembering the facts: Jinger in fact takes her hand off the second pole, though she never moves it away and always keeps it in front of it.

Yes Dustin, after I wrote the post I thought ... actually Jinger released the second pole ... My magician's tainted mind took more notice about the hand not moving away the pole, but you are correct, she takes her hand off.

Hi Andres ,I agree whit you about Kalin and JingerBut you as all of us here we are magic lover and we see the things differently,Some days ago I have seen one more time a well know magician perform the Pole leviWellThat illusion never convinced me completly and also all my friends not magicians told me the same ... butThis last time I really sayid myself" why still perform already it" if from the audience 50% of spectators all togheter where pointing the fingers at the right pole...this is pure masochismI think this that illusion it's for this days a bit out of date...Until the street performers not magicians will still performing that suspension will be hard for us be "magicians" using it.Thanks.

Jim Steinmeyer created the Pole Suspension Illusion (why is it magicians never get the difference between a levitation and a suspension) which was first presented by Doug Henning. Then David Copperfield did it, but what does he know about illusions? It's a terrible illusion in the hands of BAD magicians. In the hands of a GOOD magician (Doug, DC, S and R and as you mentioned Mark and Jinger) it's a great illusion or none of us would have spent the time and money on it we did. One more time, Illusions do not make the man, but a great illusion needs a great illusionist to flesh it out, to put the time and thought into the effect that it needs. Anyone who still believes that great illusions in their own can make you famous needs to reconsider.

Mine was built around 1990 by John Gaughan. My illusion added an addition I created that Jim OKed and John built It is a complex illusion and even among the best there have been hits and weird near-misses hits. David Copperfield wove a fairy tale around it, it was a presentation Doug would have liked. Doug proclaimed himself a Tibetan Mystic, a presentation Jeff McBride would like.... I can't remember what Jeff's presentation is. The point being that a lot of magicians, well known magician have performed it and brought something of their own into each performance. I am very fond of how Siegfried used the illusion as a gateway to an extraordinary scene of a man, Roy, surrounded by 15 (?) tigers just laying around like a day at the beach. He (Siegfried) becomes a narrator of sorts to this impossible relationship. It looks mystical and that mood is used to support the illusion's effect.

Mark and I go way back, so i say this as a happily married friend, I would watch Jinger do any illusion. Mark and I made a reverse trip. While he always showed his partner respect, he moved to a onstage relationship with Jinger closer to what I presented with Charlotte years ago and I have had to learn the opposite. But, this makes a point, Jinger is completely comfortable in the air in her own right, and maintains her relationship with Mark on stage. Unlike the previous examples, Mark and Jinger present the illusion adage. Not all illusions handle this well. The Impalement Illusion has seen a decline in popularity. I feel those who could moved to a self-impalement presentation because the visual image of the man impaling the woman was too much. Mark was one of the first to make the illusion popular. He gave it a heavy fantasy (sexual and otherwise) presentation. Me and my ex got rid of the "otherwise." The "Pole" like the "Broom" lends itself to adage presentations. Unlike the Broom Suspension, the Pole Suspension doesn't require one.

My Pole Suspension included intellectual property of my own. It was sold without my permission, you know the story, I spent 5 years trying to get back. Scott McFall (Whom the prop was sold to) was kind of enough to make arrangements with me starting with Clearly Impossible. He has fallen in love with Jim's Holographic (also sold to him by my ex), which I also loved doing but always found it in conflict with the Little Theater (also Jim's and only two were made, the other for Doug), with Clearly Impossible my two most prized Illusions. I am helping Scott with his presentation of the Holographic.

It took John Gaughan a year to figure out the multiple wiring patches, made to the Pole Suspension while it was out of my hands. Finally I got to work with it again. It really lit a spark in Kanoe Mann and myself. I met her while touring with MOI. She gets the illusion on a level all her own which brings up a "I'll follow you lead, no you follow, I'll lead, no I'll follow....". Kanoe is theater, period. She knows dance, acting, gymnastics and how to strut with authority, and that is more difficult than it sounds. We present it with a slight flamenco flair, a presentation my ex and I explored with the Broom Suspension, in our case (circa 1991) a red neon tube. It was meant to be homage to Richiardi. If you think you know this illusion, come see me present it on tour with Masters of Illusion, or, on the first episode of this seasons CW's Masters of Illusion. Then we can have this conversation again.

Jonathan Pendragon wrote:It's a terrible illusion in the hands of BAD magicians. In the hands of a GOOD magician (Doug, DC, S and R and as you mentioned Mark and Jinger) it's a great illusion or none of us would have spent the time and money on it we did. One more time, Illusions do not make the man, but a great illusion needs a great illusionist to flesh it out, to put the time and thought into the effect that it needs. Anyone who still believes that great illusions in their own can make you famous needs to reconsider.

I agree. Any trick in bad hands is a mess. Particularly great illusions are often said that is the box or the assistant who makes all the work. I think this is because bad magicians.

The original post by fabricemagic asked if is a good idea still performing Steinmeyer's version if there is a lot of cheap street versions that show the basic mecanisms. I insists yes, is a good idea as long as you hard work in the presentation and use a well made prop. As I said in my first post, I have watched in magician's conventions poorly manufactured and performed suspensions, not just with street performers. Is not the same a home made prop, copy of a copy of a copy .... used as a plataform for a living statue that you see suspended, that a prop custom made by a professional like Steinmeyer or Gaughan, adding your own ideas, research and presentation.

If so much "cheap" performers have used this illusion is because they liked it watching a good performer, otherwise I doubt they would be interested.

Technically, it isn't. If an object rises but is still in contact with a stationary object, it's a suspension. Even place a an object in the air where it remains motionless, is still a suspension. A levitation means the object floats free of any support and moves: floats up, floats down, floats all around.

The issue with this kind of suspension -- and this is someone else's analysis (it may even have been Jonathan's -- my apologies that I don't remember the source) -- is the unresolved tension that comes from not removing the second support. When you remove the first support, it is like showing the gun in a first act of a play, we -- consciously or not -- expect that second support to be removed. When it isn't, it feels like a melody that hasn't resolved back to its 1 chord.

There are a handful of suspensions I've seen that solve this, and they all make the effect much better for having done so...David Berglas' Chair Suspension -- which is presented as a feat of impossible balance -- makes the routine so much more impactful...rather than being "a poor man's floating lady," by reframing it as an act of balance he removes any expectation of the second support being removed

Jonathan's own suspension with a large feather accomplishes the same -- because it is about the delicacy of the material supporting the person and makes no pretension towards floatation.

For Illusionist. Whenever you buy a new illusion, everything changes. Illusions require so much energy that to approach them a la carte, is foolish. Each time you add a new piece, all the others are affected. If they're not, you're not giving them the flow they deserve. A magic show with a book, even the loosest of books unimaginable , gives the audience something to grab onto and making that connection is everything.

While on tour with MOI, I perfected a move I never thought I would be able to recreate because of the damage to my shoulder. With the Pole Suspension, I was able to do a slow hoop pass over Kanoe Mann's head followed by two insanely fast ones. It's why John Gaughan worked so hard, he wanted to see me do this move again and I am grateful to say I can.

But this created a conflict with my development of the Feather Suspension. I was drawn to the the presentation because I was looking for more mature influences and Prospero was always one of my favorite. It also solved a problem with how my relationship with my step-daughter Jacosa is perceived. The reason that it is so well established in our show, is because we work at it. She is a free and at times sensual spirit, but that sensuality is aimed at you the audience, not me. It's different from my presentation with my ex, so I think of it differently.

I have been working on a move where I pull the hoop between the feather and Jacosa. Jacosa, for a moment, is unbalanced and then regains her composure. I worked on this move with several hoops including one of Blaney's white hoops and a beautiful new silver one from Joe Porper. I came to realize that the move I need to make, I was incapable of because of the rotator cuff injury.

Jacosa gave me a gift, a plastic hoop, about 30 inches in diameter that can fold into the same bag I hold my twelve inch Owen's Linking Rings in. Backstage we would use it to warm up with. Jacosa began showing me isolation moves that effect the hoop in much the same way they effect plexiglass balls in contact juggling. From this we designed a routine where I toss the hoop to her and she presents a ballad, a poetic and slow moving pass that she performers before her toe tosses the hoop back to me.

Frustration is the natural by-product of invention. Throwing your hands up is the natural by-product of the unimaginative.

Tonight on the CW Network's "Master of Illusion" I will present the Pole Levitation (suspension). You will see the work I spoke about before. There is a logical flow to the movement. The first pole is removed to show "no strings attached" and to facilitate the hoop pass which is passed over Kanoe only, it doesn't show the chain of connection which is a fault I find in most Broom and Pole Suspensions. This can be done because Kanoe floats forward, beyond the poles. The second pole becomes superfluous, there is no need to remove it. The flamenco flair is evident but I doubt the music I use in performance, Malagena, will be used on camera.